| Birth Date: | 23 June 1868 |
| Henry Close | |
| Death Place: | New Jersey State Prison, Trenton, New Jersey, United States |
| Death Cause: | Execution by electrocution |
| Other Names: | Henry Colin Campbell |
| Birth Name: | Henry Colin Campbell Close |
| Victims: | Mildred Mowry |
| Criminal Charge: | First degree murder |
| Criminal Penalty: | Death |
Henry Close (June 23, 1868 – April 18, 1930), also known as Henry Colin Campbell Close and nicknamed The Torch Murderer, was executed by the State of New Jersey for the murder of Mildred Mowry, whom he met through a personal ad placed with a "matrimonial agency."[1] A career criminal and bigamist whose previous crimes were non-violent, Campbell married Mowry in 1929 despite having another wife. Six months after marrying Mowry, Campbell murdered her to collect on a $1,000 investment she owned and burned her corpse.[2]
He was also suspected in another, similar murder of Margaret Brown in 1928. Both Mowry and Brown had been shot in the head, had their bodies dumped on the side of a road, and were set on fire.[3]
During his adult life, Campbell worked as a civil engineer and advertising executive and posed as a physician. Using a matchmaking service in Detroit, Michigan, Campbell married several women between 1910 and 1928 although police looking into his life were never able to find any record of divorce actions.[4]
A pair of shoes at the Mowry crime scene were traced to Campbell who subsequently confessed to killing her. He denied killing Brown and never stood trial for her murder. Police suspected he murdered some of his previous "wives".